Twelve Days of Christmas
by Infernal Racket
Summary: Twelve days, twelve gifts, some a burden, some far more welcome than others. A little insight into Christmas at the Malfoys.
1. Two Useless House Elves

**So seen as I'm feeling festive, I thought a break from all the heavy stuff was in order! Just a quick explanation as to what the plan is: twelve little chapters/drabbles, each showing the twelve days leading up to Christmas Day in the Malfoy household, each following a gift, or in some cases a burden, that Lucius will give to Narcissa, some conventional and some not so, and definitely some more welcome than others! Apologies for poor formatting, paragraphing and any errors, I only have my phone to work on. Happy holidays! **

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_On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me: two useless house elves. _

"Left. Further. A little more. Too far! Right a little!" Narcissa told the house elves with a stentorian command. Four dirty little feet skidded to a halt on the hard wooden floor of the parlour and quickly changed direction. Between them hovered a luscious fir-tree: it was easily double Narcissa's height, triple theirs, making it extremely difficult for the 'tiny-minded' creatures (as Lucius would call them) to place it in the position Narcissa so desired.

After the painfully slow job of getting the Christmas tree through the large, but unfortunately, not large enough front door without knocking off the top, poor Narcissa had started to lose her patience.

Lucius had provided her with two elves to help with the job, two of which barely possessed enough magical talent between them to keep the tree aloft for even a second.

Now, to make matters worse, as the elves struggled, the tip of the tree threatened to collide with Lucius' antique chandelier, putting Narcissa's nerves on edge. He had inherited the beauty from his grandparents after a heated argument with a distant cousin, one of which had resulted in a longterm falling out. If she broke it, she strongly believed a divorce would be on the cards, never mind a falling out.

"Yes Mrs Malfoy" one of the two squeaked as they shuffled sideways again, a small bead of sweat forming and rolling down it's temple through terror, not of the witch but of the complaint she would no doubt make to his master, Lucius, should he make a mistake.

She is always mistress of the situation, Narcissa, coolly self-possessed and in control, and that was not about to change now.

"Merlin's sake... Shoo! The pair of you, shoo!" Flicking her wrist dismissively, Narcissa ordered the elves away, having had more than enough of their nonsense.

Understanding the sincere tone, the workers obediently countered the charm they had on the tree to make it float and scurried from the room as fast as their little legs would carry them.

After raking her fingers through her loose blonde hair, now dishevelled through stress, Narcissa withdrew her own wand and pointed it at the misplaced tree, finally taking charge.

"Wingardium Leviosa" she declared whilst flicking the wand. The tree rose and slowly moved at her command.

"Narcissa, dear?" Lucius' voice arose from doorway, causing her to break her concentration and drop the tree prematurely. As she turned slowly to face him, his lips formed lazy, relaxed smile. He spoke with ease, worry and stress-free.

"Have you not finished yet? Goodness woman, you are slow." His tone was teasing but his busy wife had no patience left for him, not even one ounce.

Narcissa balled her hands into fists, shaking with frustration, her tight grip almost snapping her wand in two. She closed her eyes, deciding it best to just imagine sending a bat-bogey hex towards her husband rather than actually doing so; returning him to normal would only be another job to add to the list that was already as long as her arm. Oh how she loves the holidays.


	2. One Drunken Sister

**As always, my greatest apologies for poor formatting! I hope you enjoy chapter two; I tried my best but I'm determined to get the fic finished before Christmas, because I'll be depressed on Boxing Day and have no motivation to finish it whatsoever, so I hope it's okay. I own nothing. Enjoy!**

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_On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me: a drunken sister and two useless house elves._

_Knock knock._

Narcissa looked up from the pile of cards spewed across Lucius' desk. It being her first Christmas as a Malfoy, the job of wishing family, friends and acquaintances a merry Christmas via owl had fallen to her, just as it had always been her mother's job as a pureblood wife. Lucius possessed an awful lot of acquaintances and so her wrist ached, making the interruption extremely welcome. As she stood, she wriggled her arm about to loosen it up, opening the door with her still-working hand.

In the hallway beyond stood Lucius, his stormy eyes a more angry shade than usual and his lips set sternly in a straight line.

Narcissa smiled brightly after a mock roll of her eyes.

"You know you need not knock, Lucius, it is your study and we are married now, after—" she started before Lucius' low, rough voice interrupted.

"Visitor for you downstairs. Enjoy" and with that he turned on his heel to begin his departure with quick, long strides, seemingly unable to get away fast enough.

Narcissa blinked; a wave of confusion washed over her as to why Lucius was so short with her, but she definitely held an air of curiosity too, so she followed her husband's instructions and made her way downstairs.

"Cissy darling!" A familiar voice cooed the second the blonde stepped foot onto the stairs. Narcissa exhaled loudly, not entirely sure who she had been expecting, but the last person she needed in the house during the busy holiday was Bellatrix.

"Bellatrix, what a... pleasant surprise." Narcissa plastered the most genuine smile on her face that she could manage as stood before her 'delightful' sister.

"What's that face for?" Bellatrix asked with a pout; she knew her sister far too well to fall for the mask. Stumbling forward, she grabbed Narcissa's arm for support. She clung there, feigning a scowl for a long time before she said, "Aren't you happy to see me, dear?"

"Mm, quite happy," Narcissa answered as she patted her sister atop her head as a somewhat affection greeting, "but what are you doing here, I thought you were spending Christmas with Rodolphus' and his parents?"

Bellatrix leaned over to talk in Narcissa's ear but did not trouble herself to lower her voice much, screeching loudly. "I got bored, bloody boring pair of sods. They don't drink, how diabolically rubbish is that?!"

Narcissa wrinkled her nose in distaste; she could smell the wine on her sister's breath and her teeth had a slightly purple tinge.

"Ah, so you thought you would grace Lucius and I with your delightful presence."

Bellatrix lifted her head and tapped the tip of Narcissa's nose with her index finger. "Precisely, little sister." The drunken witch beamed and ambled off into the parlour without so much as hiccup in her sister's direction.

Narcissa whined, she had enough on her mind already, she didn't have time to babysit Bellatrix too.

The younger witch followed in a less than enthusiastic manner to find her sister standing at the foot of the Christmas tree.

A multitude of resplendent silver baubles dangled from the needle-shaped leaves along with exquisite glass ornaments. Narcissa had taken at least two hours to decorate it the previous evening, not stopping until she had decided it was perfect. The silver flash of precisely arranged tinsel glittered gently, intensifying the dangerous, mischievous glint in Bellatrix's dark eyes.

"Pretty," she purred, musing on the spectacle before her, her head tilted to the right. "Not very bright though."

With that, Narcissa stepped forward with a single laugh of disbelief. "Excuse me, but it is of perfect brightness considering the setting and the level of lighting in the room."

"How about I brighten it up? Add a little extra light?" Bellatrix grinned deviously as her hand slipped into the pocket of her bat-black robes, her slim fingers wrapping around the powerful walnut wand.

"No." Narcissa snapped assertively.

The raven-haired witch replied with slurred words, jabbing a finger into her sister's chest. "Just relax and trust me."

"I shan't trust you when you are way beyond tipsy!" Narcissa hissed and close to pounced on her sister, making a grab for her wand, but unfortunately, a little too late.

"Incendio!" The drunken witch half cried, half cackled as a beam of fire burst from the tip of the pointed wand; certainly making it the brightest Christmas tree within miles.


	3. Two Dreadful In-Laws

**So this chapter throws two in-laws into the chaos for Narcissa. I hope you all enjoy it as much as the last, I'm sorry for the delay, I've been too busy being excited for Christmas! Hopefully an upload a day now, I'm determined to get this finished before Christmas is over! I own nothing, enjoy! **

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_On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me: two dreadful in-laws, a drunken sister and two useless house elves._

Narcissa stood face to face with the door than separated herself from her in-laws. The tray of tea in her hands rattled furiously, she was nervous alright. Turning side on, she nudged the door with her hip, allowing it to swing open.

Abraxas stood beside the fireplace with his elbow propped against the mahogany mantelpiece lost in deep conversation with his son. They both wore the exact same look of concentration, in fact the resemblance made Narcissa uncomfortable; her father in law had terrified her since the day they first met. He was a nice man, she couldn't deny that, but the power he held in his strong, tall stance was unsettling, and there was always something about his ash-coloured eyes and the spark that graced them every so often, a spark that she believed had the potential to rekindle a dangerous fire.

Mrs Malfoy sat perched on the edge of the leather couch, appearing as perfectly poised as always.

"Would either of you care for some tea?" Narcissa asked as she set down the tray on the coffee table. On the other end sat multiple presents, wrapped beautiful in shiny paper and topped with bows as equally shiny. Narcissa had a strong suspicion that the smaller ones would be for her, containing potions identical to those that she received for her birthday: potions to increase the chances of herself and Lucius giving her in-laws a grandchild as soon as possible.

Mrs Malfoy hummed in reply and helped herself. Lucius and Abraxas, however, failed to hear her over their ever loudening conversation.

Tentatively taking a seat beside her mother-in-law, Narcissa put on the widest smile, so wide it was rather uncomfortable. "So, Mrs Malfoy, are you all ready and prepared for Christmas?"

The woman's eyes danced across the surrounding room, narrowed slightly as they ended they search and settled on Narcissa.

"More ready than you are, by the looks of things, where on earth is your Christmas tree, Narcissa?"

Narcissa's cheeks flushed a bright pink colour and she hiccuped, almost choking on the sip of tea she'd just that second taken.

"Well, there was a slight, mishap, regarding the tree but I can assure you that a new on is on it's way as we speak."

Her mother-in-law nodded although Narcissa didn't believe she was convinced.

Like a child with a short attention span, the older witch changes the subject to one of which Narcissa would rather avoid.

"You're still looking a skinny as always Narcissa, you know, you are supposed to gain weight when bearing a child?" She asked in a not so subtle way.

"Oh leave her be, dear, they are yet to be married a year." Abraxas briefly paused his conversation with his son to speak to his wife, resuming not even a second later. Narcissa found herself startled and possibly a little more afraid of the man; she had been taught that all women have eyes and ears in the back of their head, but not men. So she made a mental note to watch her actions even when she thought Abraxas wasn't watching in future.

Completely disregarding her husbands request, Mrs Malfoy, now that the subject of babies was out in the open, launched into a monologue that sounded suspiciously prepared, talking at Narcissa as opposed to talking to her.

Knowing that the perfect Christmas present for Lucius' parents would be the news of a grandchild, she found herself feeling a little inadequate. It was not as though they weren't trying, it just hadn't happened for them yet.

Admitting defeat, Narcissa just nodded, and nodded, and nodded. Slowly she slipped off into her own little world, drowning out her mother-in-laws nagging with happy thoughts of Christmas Day, when all the stresses that come with the holiday would be over.


	4. A Wonderful Surprise

**Apologies for the delay in updates, I've just been lazy! This is only short but I included what I wanted and I think more would be too much, I like to as it is and I hope you like it too! Enjoy. (I own nothing and as always, apologies for poor formatting)**

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_On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me: a wonderful surprise, two dreadful in-laws, a drunken sister and two useless house elves._

Narcissa stood before the bathroom mirror, her reflection partially clouded due to the steam that had gathered during her hot shower. It hadn't helped; she hoped the relaxing sensation of the warm flowing water and the calming scent of her vanilla shampoo would cease the headache and uncomfortable sickly feeling she had been experiencing all morning, but unfortunately not.  
She ran her fingers over the skin beneath her eyes as though she would be able to rub away the dark marks that a lack of sleep had left. She looked exhausted.  
With a groan she clutched her stomach as another wave of unease washed over her.  
When it passed, she felt as though she could think properly again and her mind began to wander.  
Stretching aside, Narcissa pulled open the the drawer of the bathroom cabinet and withdrew vial containing a blue, cloudy liquid. She held it up to the light, tilting it from side to side as she examined it. A label on the side read:

_'One drop of blood required'  
'red - expecting, black - not'._

Placing the vial on the edge of the marble sink, she pulled out the cork and set it aside.  
Next, she retrieved her wand from the neatly folded pile of clothes she had discarded before her shower and returned to stand before the mirror.  
Tapping her long nails against metal tap, she paused for a moment to think, and as though somebody had whispered 'lumos', an idea came to her. She snatched a toothbrush from the holder and pointed her wand, mumbling a spell that caused it to slowly shrink, transforming into a tiny, sharp pin.  
In the lighting of the room, it shone as Narcissa lifted it and pricked the tip of her finger.  
She dropped it with shock and hissed quietly at the stinging sensation, but it was worth it; a small bead of pure, red blood had risen to the surface of her pale skin. Holding her finger atop the potion vial, she waited patiently for the blood to drop, and eventually it did.  
It dropped silently into the blue liquid and a reaction started to take place: it started to swirl, changing colour rapidly, and wisp of white smoke rose to join the steam surrounding the blonde witch who waited patiently for the result.  
The swirling slowed, the escaping smoke ceased, and the colour change came to a sudden halt.


End file.
